Kevin Magnussen: “It’s difficult when you have a midfield that’s so tight”

Kevin Magnussen admitted it was an off weekend for the Haas F1 Team as the Dane could only finish where he started the Russian Grand Prix in thirteenth position.

Magnussen had jumped into the top ten at the start but was quickly handed a five-second time penalty for track limit offences at turn two – he failed to go around the bollard as requested by the FIA after running wide – and the time he lost in the pit lane meant points were then out of the question.

He managed to bring the car home but is already sweeping this race weekend under the carpet and focusing on returning to form in Spain in two weeks time.

“It’s been a bit of an off weekend for us, but we’ve learned from it,” revealed Magnussen. “We’ve had some strong weekends in the first three races, then not so strong this weekend for some reason.

“I guess you always learn and I don’t think this is representative for the rest of the season. It’s difficult when you have a midfield that’s so tight.

“It doesn’t take a big mistake before you fall back. It’s not ideal, but I’m looking forward to the next race and the rest of the season.”